Nesting birds         

Wild birds - Bringing their young ones out to this world in an hostile environment

Nesting series -  

Wrong expectation - our understanding of fledging means that would be the time the fledglings leave the tree that they were brought up. For this Little Heron, it did not follow that way. Fledging to the Chicks were the end of needing the nest for support. The chicks with ready to fly feathers, had fledged much earlier. Left the nest but not the tree. Of course eventually, they have left the home tree. This time for sure, would mean that the juveniles were on their way for an independent life. These happenings seen, were just what we aimed for.

September 16th - Tuesday

Well, good news! I confirm seeing both fledglings at the opposite tree [tree no.2] now. Chick No.2 was still too "shy" to do much flying around. Tuesday I was in luck. My arrival at 10.15 am coincided with mama bringing food to the fledglings. Mama flew to their perching spot. That action brought one of the chick to fly around. This chick flew quite well. Rather far from branch to branch, all this while led by mama. Chick No. 2 stayed at the original perching spot, like nothing has ever
happened..... as usual. Quite some days now, me and Khong had both observed that this one was relatively inactive during feeding and flight.

Papa perched at a nearby tree [tree No.3]. The chick active in flying did not approach that tree. Contended in remaining on a nearby branch, looking towards the direction of papa bird. That happened after mama flew off. When I left the area, I could hear the calls of Little Herons. I think these calls are probably made by the juveniles and not by the parents, will try to confirm this when I get the chance. 

September 19th - Friday

This day, failed to locate the chicks , safe to assume to take this day which the chicks finally gained their independence. They left
the nesting area. The mama bird however was seen in the 2nd nest in the morning. But in the afternoon, it was standing on the nest. Not so sure about incubating. Let's keep watch.

Hold it, in late afternoon, one juvenile spotted on the tree?

September 20th - Saturday

Just logging in as a routine report. Around noon, both juveniles were on the tree.

September 21st - Sunday

Confirmed that nest No.2 was active, mum was checked and remained in the nest. More, daddy besides it. Good sign that, so this nest was progressing as schedule. Can see the opportunity to make comparison report from the 2 nesting. Definitely an interesting point to add in to the write-up. Big question? Is this pair of bird possibly potentially start to raise a second brood when the first brood is matured?.

September 22nd - Monday

The juveniles were seen as highly independent. Did not notice any traces of their dependence by the parents. Their preference, tree No.2. With the span of this too more widespread, at times they could hardly be noticed.

September  23rd - Tuesday

Tuesday marked my return to the Heron nesting area and the resumption of more picture taking session. This nest No.2 on tree No.2 resting on a single bough. Supported by the branched stems of the Mistletoes. This tree No.2 was tall at 20 meter high. The nest at about 15 meters from the ground. Also above the edge of a public road. Unlike Tree No.1, this Yellow Flame most probably planted at the same time, had gained greater height and healthier. There were no signs of shrinkage and do not practice wintering as noted in tree No.1. Though aged, many branches still bear the characteristic being long & slender. Tuesday morning noticed that some branches at the fringes continued to bear flowers.

Also noticed that, the well spread branches did not present so much obstacles as in tree No.1. While hindrances were less, getting good pictures would not be easy. There were only 2 angles where the nest comes into full view. All 3 were at an incline of over 45* delivering sightings from right below. These first pictures, particularly that of the nest, highlights the anchorage and also the choice of sites. Next, using leaves from the Yellow Flame and those of Mistletoes, do give an impression of size. Lastly, the basic ways and the construction of the crude nest.

Tuesday's morning at around 8.45 am, the female left the nest and were pecking on some young fronds short distance from the nest.

A short while later, a female Koel dropped by. Stayed in a perch, 5 meters away and below the level of the nest. Remained at that spot for about 15 minutes.

I watching the Koel. She was undisturbed, went on her routine. Feeding on grubs on the Mistletoes. I tried to gather some insight as to the type of food sorted by the bird but unsuccessfully.

From previous experiences, dropping were noticed in an area of 2 meters radius from the spot-on point below the nest. Very minimal but that from the adult.

September  24th - Wednesday

There were 2 birds on the tree. One flew out of the nest and remained perched nearby, another stayed at its original position some distance away. This morning noticed that the droppings below the clump of Mistletoes above the road being the heaviest. There were also 2 other spots that recorded a marginally less amount of droppings. The bird did not return to its nest.

September  25th - Thursday

There was no bird in the nest. On consequent search, one bird was seen perched among the thick foliage. There was no reaction on the part of the bird to our spotting. Nothing more to report we left the place.

September  27th - Saturday

There was no bird at the nest. The droppings in the vicinity was not seen. No old left-over's or fresh markings. Searched the branches for sign of Little Heron. Couldn't locate any. Then all of a sudden, one left the tree and perched on the edge of the factory's roofing. I waited for 30 minutes to record any return to the nest. There was none forth coming and the bird on the roof remained.

29th October 2008 - Wednesday

After the fledging of first 2 chicks successfully from the nest, we noticed there was nesting activity in the second nest. One found by Khong, Unfortunately, I was off for my Raya break and Khong had also failed to see anything interesting in that duration. Soon I returned to PJ. There were no signs of nest being occupied. Also not much of droppings to be seen on the ground. I was kept busy and did not happen to walk pass this spot for the last couple of weeks.

Today, I happened to walk pass and some noticeable markings drew my attention. A whole area of white droppings right under where the nest should be. I tried watching the nest and found a chick resting in the nest. Then the nest do contain chicks and is indeed a success up to date.
Can't tell much from the head I saw, but counting the days and the size of the chick suggest this is a rather advanced stage and it will only take 1-2 weeks for them to be matured enough to fledge from the nest.

Looking back, the incubation time of the Little Heron, we have not ascertained. Taking larger birds like chicken of 21 days and that of Flycatchers 10 days, I would make a bold estimate of 15 days for the Little Heron. I will wait to guess the size of the chicks before I work backwards.

As for the subject surrounding the oversight of potential nesting. Saturday 27th, was the only day that the parent was there watching me. There after I visited the nest on 3 other occasions. Definitely I couldn't see any birds seating on the nest nor the dropping that signified the presence around the trees. Once more, our second and fall back clue. The presence and the complete lack of tell tale signs giving away activities around the nest is an interesting point to note.
 

30th October 2008 - Thursday

Just checked the nest a while ago, 2 rather well developed chicks standing outside the nest.

Judging from their movements, and from our previous records, the chicks should well into their 18th day of fledging. That would put the hatching to be around 13th October.

Then adding on another 15 days for the incubation, the eggs were could be laid somewhere around the 27th September. What a co-incident? That was the last day I went to check on the nest!!!

I went to confirm the size of the chick to ascertain a rough timing of their hatching and fledging. Wings feathers were in the early stage of formation otherwise noticeable traces of down on the wings. As reported by Tou that the chicks have momentarily left the nest, then again we could estimate the advance stage of fledging. This time, the observation is not about the progress of fledging, but rather the breeding habits of Little Heron.

3rd November 2008 - Monday

From the evidences of droppings, the chicks would have left the nest at least 2 days ago, would be Saturday 1st November. Therefore another estimate of leaving the nest on the 18th day, there would be a narrow 2 days difference from the earlier estimate. That still put the laying of the eggs around the 27th September.

Next, we shall keep a close watch on this supposition of "back-to-back" breeding .

The chicks should be leaving the tree and away from the nest around 11th November and the parents would be planning for the next clutches of eggs after that. The big question now is not getting the dates right but - where would the nest be?

Would be nice to follow through to see our assumption turning into a reality with the 3rd time spotting in one continuous observation.